Chicago transit agencies warn of drastic cuts in face of looming $770 million budget shortfall
A major crisis is brewing for Chicago's public transit system, officials warned on Friday.
The Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees the budgets for CTA, Metra, and Pace, is facing a $770 million budget shortfall next year, and warned if it's not addressed, the fallout could impact people across the city, whether they take public transit or not.
The RTA said, without additional state funding to plug that budget hole, the Chicago area would see drastic cuts in bus and train service, lost jobs, longer wait times for commuters, and more traffic headaches for drivers.
After a significant drop in ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic, use of public transit in Chicago has been steadily increasing since 2022, as more people return to working from the office. The CTA, Metra, and Pace have expanded service to accommodate a post-pandemic workflow, but warned without new state funding, riders will see drastic cuts in service next year.
The RTA is calling the situation potentially devastating. Without an influx of state funding for next year, the RTA said CTA, Metra, and Pace would need to cut back service by 40% next year.
The CTA would be forced to eliminate some or all service on at least four of its eight rail lines, close or dramatically reduce service at more than 50 rail stations, and eliminate 74 of 127 bus routes.
Metra would have to eliminate all early morning and late evening trains, reduce weekday train service to one train per hour on each route, and cut weekend train service to one train every two hours on each route.
Pace would be forced to eliminate all weekend service and all weekday service after 8 p.m. They predicted overall higher wait times, with some routes seeing wait times increase to 30 or 60 minutes.
Paratransit service for people with disabilities would be cut by two-thirds on weekends.
"We provide a lot of on-demand service in the more rural areas, we provide ADA paratransit for people with disabilities, and all of that service would have to be retracted," Pace executive director Melinda Metzger said.
The RTA said nearly 3,000 transit workers could be laid off, and the loss of transit services could cost the local economy $2.6 billion a year. The Chicago area also could see $1 billion a year in lost wages due to reduced transit service.
According to the RTA, avoiding those cuts starts with the state granting the agencies a collective $770 million to plug an anticipated budget shortfall for the Chicago area's entire mass transit system.
However, the RTA has floated $1.5 billion in new funding as an ideal total to allow for expanded service for the CTA, Metra, and Pace.
"Metra's portion of that is $230 million, and so for us it's going to equal about a 20% reduction eventually of expense, which will equate to a 40% reduction of service if we don't get the funding," Metra CEO and executive director Jim Derwinski said.
Derwinski said riders will have no choice but to hit the road if their train is cut.
"The roads are going to get jammed; and they're bad already, but they're going to get so congested that there's a bigger safety concern out there than operating on the railroad," he said.
Riders said the potential cuts would turn their commutes upside down.
"My children take the CTA to get back and forth from school. We take CTA to get back and forth to work. So hot having immediate transportation and having to spend all the money we spend on gas, it's crazy," Terina Ruffin said.
"If services slow down, I can't get to school in time, I can't get to my job in time. So the way things are now, I can do all of that," Roy Jackson said.
The Illinois General Assembly is still negotiating on a state budget plan for 2026, and so far it doesn't appear there's any agreement on transit funding without some compromise to cut down costs, according to Illinois state Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva).
"If we're going to do it, we need to make certain we create efficiencies in the system. Right now, we have four independent agencies – well, three independent agencies acting with one general oversight – and that needs to be consolidated so we start becoming more efficient," Ugaste said.
Metra and CTA officials said they would need to go through an ethical review process before deciding which specific lines of theirs to cut if they're forced to do so.
